Behind the Barricades at Columbia’s Hamilton Hall Takeover
As seen in New York Magazine: By Alex Kent and Matt Stieb
Around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Columbia University students calling for their school’s divestment from Israel escalated their protest by taking it indoors. After nearly two weeks in an encampment on the Ivy’s main lawn, demonstrators forced their way into a nearby academic building, Hamilton Hall, and set up barricades to block the police from the entrance.
After evicting two university facility workers, students hung a banner reading “Student Intifada” from the second floor of the hall. In response, Columbia threatened to expel students occupying the building, while the White House condemned the practice of “forcibly taking over buildings.” On Tuesday evening, Columbia called in the NYPD. Hundreds of officers arrived on campus, arrested dozens of students as they cleared Hamilton Hall, and “pushed protesters to the ground and slammed them with metal barricades” in front of the building, per the Columbia Spectator.
Earlier in the day, Getty Images photographer Alex Kent documented students’ takeover of the same building that protesters were evicted from 56 years ago to the day. Below, Kent explains what his photos captured.
